Cast wheel



(No Model.)

W. N. WHITELY.

. CAST WHEEL.

Patented Oct. 20, 1885.

NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

WILLIAM N. \VHITELEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

CAST WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,736, dated October 2O 1885.

Application filed August 31, 1885. Serial No. 175,825.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM N. WHITELEY, of Springfield, county of Clark, State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cast Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cast-metal pulleys or wheels, and particularly to main wheels and supporting-wheels, 850., of harvesting machines, and generally to carryingwheels, especially of agricultural implements, made of cast-iron, malleable iron, or cast-steel; and it consists in casting the wheel all in one piece, but having the rim divided in a peculiar way in one or more places, which are afterward riveted or otherwise securely fastened.

The object of my invention is to so construct a wheel that it may be cast of malleable iron, ordinary cast-iron, or steel in such a manner that upon its cooling and shrinking the rim shall not break or become distorted and warped out of a perfect circle. All cast-metal wheels with heavy rims are subjected to great peripheral tension, owing to the unequal cooling of the exterior and interior metal. This makes the rim brittle and liable to break under hard usage. The rim is therefore divided, so that it can shrink without strain; but the point where the meeting ends of the divided rim are secured together is less stiff than that part between spokes, because it is discontinuous, and the strength of the coupling-bolts is the measure of the mutual support. I can compensate this weakness by casting the ends on each side of the division with a greater radius than the circle of the wheel, and afterward forcibly reducing said ends to conform to the circle of the wheel by means of a tension-rod or otherwise. When so forcibly reduced to the circle of the wheel, these ends are under permanent stress, and will not yield further until the force applied exceeds said permanent stress. This is awell-known principle of permanent stress applied to trussbridges. In practice I find it sufficient and preferable for the purposes of a harvesten. wheel to produce said permanent stress by making one end of the division of greater and the other end of less radius than the radius of the wheel, and then forcibly springing said ends together and securing them together by (No model.)

bolts. This method is shown in my drawings; but I do not confine myself thereto.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 an edge view, of a harvestingmachinewheel constructed upon myplan. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the method of fastening the divided rim. Fig. 4 is a front elevation, and Fig. 5 an edge view, of an ordinary pulley, showing the method of dividing and afterward fastening the rim.

Similar letters refer to like parts in the several views.

The construction of harvester and other carrying-wheels upon my plan is as follows:

The pattern from which mold is made does not conform to a perfect circle. 111 the interval between the spokes or arms where a divi sion in the rim occurs one portion of the rim (from A to B) is formed with a longer radius than the normal radius of the wheel, as shown by the dotted line 0 (I, while that portion of the rim from B to E is formed with a shorter radius than the normal radius of the wheel, as shown by the dotted line f g. On the opposite edge of the rim the form of construction is reversed, the portion from A to B is formed with the short, and from B to E with the long, radius. The ears h h cast upon those portions of the rim having the shorter radii, and. underlapping the portions having the longer radii, are firmly riveted or otherwise secured thereto, as shown at M, the rim then assuming the form of a perfect circle.

In the construction of other wheels having a plain face (see Figs. 4 and 5) the lap runs straight across the rim and is riveted or otherwise securely fastened, as before mentioned, While in addition the car is cast integral with the web of the rim, and an additional rivet or other suitable fastening applied, as shown at F, Fig. 4.

By my method of constructing these wheels I am enabled to make the several parts, especially the rim, much lighter than formerly, and while it possesses all the requisite strength there is no bending, distortion, or breaking of the rim from shrinkage or cooling after it is cast.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. A wheel for harvesters and other purposes,

Vided in one or more places with the ends dimanent stress by being forcibly brought toconstructed of cast metal, having the rim dithan the circle of the wheel and under perverging from the circle of the wheel and under gether and secured, substantially as described,

permanent stress by being forcibly bent and and for the purposes set forth. I 5 5 held in position coincident with said circle, In testimony whereof I have hereunto set substantially as described, and for the purposes my hand this 20th day of August, 1885. specified.

2. A pulley or other wheel having a plain WILLIAM WHITELEY' face and constructed of cast metal having the Witnesses: 1o rim divided in one or more places with one F. B. FURNIss,

end of greater and the other end of less radius A. L. CLARKE. 

